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ronnywhite
SFN Regular
501 Posts |
 Posted - 11/05/2005 : 01:47:45 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by beskeptigal
... the source of disease outbreaks ...
I don't doubt that. But I still lack confidence in the places and their personnel in a general sense (seeing is believing) and engaging in a humanitarian activity is fine, but when my impression of the overall business aspects of the organizations involved leaves a bad taste in my mouth, I'm not sure how much of a "philanthropist" I'm being, from a broader perspective. They cater to a market and meet a demand, and they're free to do so- that's capitalism. If I don't like the way they do things, I'm free not to go around them. As for people desperate for cash who do it because their life situations don't leave them a great deal of choice, I might not like the deal they're given relative to the profit structures of such businesses, but that's not my affair. It's the governments. Maybe I'll participate in one of the Red Cross blood drives, instead.
Regarding "miscommunication," I don't call a schlock passing himself off as a "doctor" (for his entertainment, or otherwise) because he's in a situation where he can get away with it (most of the clientele wouldn't pick-up on it) "miscommunication"... I call it "deception." And someone might cite the "benign" nature of it, but I don't buy that. If someone else thinks "Oh, that's OK, it's no big deal" that's their call. It's not the way I see it. A couple of points here, our pseudo-doctor aside (if I ran around bars representing myself as a "doctor" to pick-up women, a term like "jackass" might be appropriate, but in a professional setting, doing so is more serious [in my opinion] regardless of whether the clients have the grounds, evidence, means, or wherewithal to take them to court or notify proper authorities- and have them listen.)
While the Phleb-O-Matic Stabmaster unit was thirstily sucking-away on her bodily fluids, I heard a young girl ask the machine's babysitter why the procedure was taking so long... he asked what she had eaten that morning, and she replied "a hot dog." He told her it was "her fault"... that the "fat from it in her blood" was slowing the process. Now, I recalled from the half-hour or so of physiology (I managed not to sleep through ages ago) that "It don't work that way," or to put it another way, he was full of crap (in the humble opinion of this non-health science guy.) Or, another translation... if he wasn't incompetent, he was doing a good job of faking it.
That's shabby treatment of clients, and the fact that these people are mostly dirt poor- giving plasma just to make a few bucks for food, or to put gasoline in the tanks of their rolling trashheaps- makes it all the worse. And this business could pay those people 2 or 3 times what they do- easily- and make it almost worth their client's while... and STILL reap huge profits. I've seen a roadside billboard with Pamela Anderson urging people not to buy a certain product because it involved exploitive labor practices in a foreign country, and similar ads advising people not to buy products because "abuse of animals" was somehow involved. Although these are likely good causes, alleged conditions in foreign countries, and the treatment of animals concerns me less than struggling people immediately around me being exploited, especially those at the very bottom of the "food chain."
In my opinion, shoddy attitudes and incompetence, accompanied by questionable practices or dishonesty... including parasitic relationships to the desperately poor... is often indicative that such might not be merely superficial, but could rather extend below the surface level as well. Just because there hasn't been a full-blown "epidemic" doesn't mean they deal with clients and equipment conscientiously in all cases, and when someone from the lowest socioeconomic classes in this country gets sick, it's far less-likely they'll make the connection... or possibly even sick medical care... as opposed to the more "upscale."
Too critical? Maybe, but I don't like the way they do business. One of the good things about this country, for all of its flaws, is that... I can give such operations my middle finger. And I do. If others see things differently, they can do as they see fit, as well.
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Ron White |
| Edited by - ronnywhite on 11/05/2005 06:31:58 |
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beskeptigal
SFN Die Hard
USA
3834 Posts |
Posted - 11/06/2005 : 00:17:58 [Permalink]
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Your story still involves one plasma center, not all plasma centers.
Blood donation has to be voluntary because paying for blood would encourage high risk donations. The plasma centers pay for blood because they sterilize the product they produce from the blood, (though in the past, diseases have evaded the purification process).
Some people who sell their blood are not desperate. I have a friend who sells his on a regular basis to support his horses. I can't remember what he donates but it was something like platelets where they take the blood out, remove what is being collected and then return the blood back once whatever it is was extracted. He goes in twice a month, I think. He's been doing it for a very long time so I assume his experience was not like yours. |
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beskeptigal
SFN Die Hard
USA
3834 Posts |
Posted - 11/06/2005 : 00:32:00 [Permalink]
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Getting back OT...talk about scary I think it will start out like this:quote:
Date: 5 Nov 2005
From: ProMED Russian correspondent<promed@promedmail.org>
Source: Russian information agency "Novosti" [edited]
<http://www.rian.ru/society/health_services/20051105/41995771.html>
A pneumonia outbreak has been detected in the city of Borodino
(Krasnoyarsk region), announced Nina Bogalej, manager of the
pediatrics department of a local hospital. In the last several days,
over 60 inhabitants of Borodino have sought medical treatment, mainly
children 2-13 years of age. Approximately half the patients had
fevers of up to 40 degrees Celsius [104 Fahrenheit].
Bogalej also said that physicians in that small city that "this viral
illness is being transmitted mainly by the aerial [aerosol? airborne?
- Mod.LM] route." She also noted that schoolmates and relatives of
those who have fallen ill previously are now seeking medical
treatment, including many adults.
Though containment measures have appreciably limited the spread of
the illness, in order to determine the source of the outbreak,
doctors in Borodino have asked the help of their colleagues in
Krasnoyarsk, who have the necessary equipment for research.
Of course, this kind of report comes out all the time with a little note of calm:
quote:
--
ProMED-mail
<promed@promedmail.org>
[Speculation as to the etiology of the acute respiratory illness
would include respiratory viral pathogens such as RSV, influenza,
adenoviruses, human metapneumovirus, and parainfluenza. Few clues
are given as to the clinical illness and any further information
would be appreciated. - Mod.LM]
[Borodino is a small city in the Krasnoyarsk region with 19 200
inhabitants. The Krasnoyarsk region occupies the center of the Asian
part of Russia between 51 and 81 degrees of northern latitude and 78
and 113 degrees of east longitude. In the southeast and the south
Krasnoyarsk borders the Tyvoj Republic, in the south the Altai
region, in the southwest the Kemerovo region, in the west the Tomsk
region, in the west and northwest the Tyumen region, in the northeast
and the east the Republic of Saha, and in the east and southeast the
Irkutsk region - ProMED Russian Correspondent]
................pg/lm
I'll keep you all posted.  |
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ronnywhite
SFN Regular
501 Posts |
Posted - 11/06/2005 : 02:47:43 [Permalink]
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My last post did rather lean towards a "diatribe"... exploitation of poor people aggravates me, sometimes.
PBS had a documentary on Bird Flu last night... worrisome. Add another to the stack. |
Ron White |
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